Please The Palate |

A new year, a new decade, new inspiration

Advice is given to use by many people in our lives. Our parents, our teachers, our mentors, friends and strangers can share a few words that can impact us for ever. Perhaps these are words we heed on a daily basis or we try to integrate into our lifestyle. What advice do you carry with you? In my recent column in the Napa Valley Register I shared some of the advice that winemakers have shared with me when interviewing them for the Wine Soundtrack podcast. Perhaps you have been given some of the same advice or perhaps some of these words will inspire you. Either way, may this be a wonderful new year! ************** When I was a little girl, my mom said something to me that I would never forget. I was nervous about going to a party and whether I would know people and have fun. She told me that you make your own good time. I could go with a negative attitude and would likely not have fun. Or I could go with a positive attitude and see what would happen.

This advice is something that I have carried with me throughout my life, and I approach everything I do with a positive attitude and an open mind.

09 January, 2020

Red, White, Rose and now Orange Wines

We now have four categories of wine - red, white, rosé and orange. Orange wines have a long history of being made and are basically white wines that are made like red wines, meaning the wines spend time on the skins, where they impart color. But many people think of orange wines as those sour beer-like wines that are nothing like what we think of wine. However, not all orange wines are beer-like and many producers are making skin-contact white wines in order to enhance the texture of the wine. I wrote about some of these wines in the Napa Valley Register, which I am sharing here.

It used to be an easy choice — do you want red wine or white wine? Then rosé grew in popularity and the choice was between red, white or rosé? But now, more and more, restaurants have a new section on the wine list offering orange wines, also called amber wine.

Orange wines are made like red wines. When we make red wines, the color comes from the skins. For rosé wines, the time the grapes spend on the skin is less than for red wines, resulting in a lighter red shade, or pink, wine. Orange wines are made from white wine grapes where the skins are kept on for hours, days, weeks or months, resulting in wines with orange or amber hues.

10 December, 2019

Two Shepherds – The Evolution of a Grape Grower

There are many different stories about how one finds themselves in the wine industry. I have been a fan of the Two Shepherds wines ever since I first tasted them a few years ago. And recently, I sat down with owner and winemaker William Allen to learn more about how he went from a shepherd of the palate to a shepherd of the grape. You can read about it in the story I wrote in the Napa Valley Register and you can find here.

Everyone in the wine industry has a story about how they got into wine, and there are many different trajectories. There are those who go to school and study enology and then work harvests at various wineries before taking a job at one winery. There are those who are born into a family business that includes vineyards and a winery. There are those who make a lot of money in a different industry and then decide to purchase a winery as a “retirement” project. And there are those who start making wine as a hobby and then grow from there. William Allen of Two Shepherds in Sonoma started as a wine blogger, became garagiste winemaker-turned-commercial-winemaker-and-grape-grower, all in the span of a decade.

19 September, 2019